by Hart, Eve R.
“Because he’s got something important going on tonight.” Iron got it.
“What the fuck is going on?” Petra seethed, clearly not happy about not knowing what was happening around her.
“How’s your security on that building?” Iron asked her as his head tilted to the one that she’d moved everyone into.
She stared him down obviously not all that thrilled that her question had gone unanswered.
“Good enough.” She didn’t blink for a long moment.
“I can’t convince you to come back to the compound with me, can I?” His tone was one that said he already knew that the headstrong woman wouldn’t take his help. For damn sure she wouldn’t with as angry as she looked right now.
“No,” she said without a second of hesitation.
“Stay here. Keep your eyes open. If anything happens then call me right away.” Iron was taking on more than I thought he could handle at the moment. We still had to get back and deal with this Keften thing. More like, put an end to it.
There was a good chance that there were girls getting sold even as we stood here. I wasn’t happy about wasting time with this shit, but for some fucking reason, it was important to Iron. So that meant that it was important to me, too.
“I won’t be,” she said, her arms crossed over her chest. “I want nothing more of this. You brought this to my doorstep. You put my people in danger. You got my building messed up. Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with me, so stay the hell away from me.”
Her voice rose as she went on, the last statement packing such force that it felt like a physical blow.
With a stiff grace, she turned on her heels and stormed off.
“Petra,” Iron called out softly after her.
For a second, her steps faltered. But then she stiffened her spine and carried on away from us.
“Fuck,” Iron said and his head hung down.
“Prez,” I said firmly.
“Fuck. Yeah. Need to get everyone together.” He moved down the street to where he’d left his bike. “It’s going to be a long night. Church when we get back. Round everyone up, even Moon Hill and Gray Fort.”
There were a lot of them down here right now so I was sure he didn’t mean all of them.
An hour later, we were all crammed in the meeting room. Some of us had given up our seats so that Brass, the Prez of the Gray Fort chapter could sit at the table as well as, Axe, Loch, and Diesel from the mother chapter.
I couldn’t prove that the hit that Petra took had anything to do with us or Keften but it seemed too coincidental. Deep down we knew it. Hell, even Petra knew this didn’t really have anything to do with her. Only one thing that bugged the fuck out of me. How the hell did Keften know about Petra’s small connection to the club?
Unless he’d been watching us all along.
And if so, how the fuck had we missed that?!
Three hours we were in that room.
Three hours of pure stress and tension all around.
Once we had everyone’s story out there, we moved on to figuring out a plan.
It was obvious that Keften had been a master planner. He’d figured out ways to hinder us and keep us distracted most of the night so we wouldn’t be out there looking for him.
It made me think that maybe his place wasn’t so hidden then. The place he was using for his auctions could have been right there out in the open and under our noses. But now that he knew we were moving in on him, would he move everything to another location after tonight? Because I had no doubt that he set this all up so he wouldn’t have to shift his plans for this one.
Even though we knew he most likely wouldn’t go back to the house, we still decided to put prospects on it. We weren’t willing to let him slip by us again.
“Bocca. Cable,” Iron said looking at each one of us for a long beat. “Find me something.”
With that, Bocca and I slipped out of the room. I knew the rest of them weren’t done and that there were plans to be made once we had a direction to go in.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Claire
“Get the hell up and get dressed. Make yourself look a little less like a strung-out junkie,” he barked as he barged into the room causing me to jolt upright.
I didn’t want to go because I knew that something bad was to come. Something worse than anything I’d been through before. Something worse than what he’d already done to me.
I couldn’t clear my mind enough to try to see the future. I mean, not like I really could. But I wanted to try to plan for what was ahead. If I knew, or thought I knew, then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
I never really liked surprises. Even as a kid, I didn’t even like it when my dad would play around and jump out of a hidden place to scare me. It always left me feeling shaky inside. So, no, I wasn’t good with the unknowing feeling of dread that was gripping me tightly on the inside.
I was so high as I stumbled out of the house that I couldn’t even walk to the car waiting just a few feet away. Of course, that only pissed him off further.
“It’s time. Go,” he said into his phone as we started to reverse out of the driveway.
My head fell against the headrest as my eyes closed. I was barely holding onto reality and I didn’t think I’d be strong enough to continue.
It had started to become a game for me. Maybe game was the wrong word. A test of my will? Yeah, that was more like it. I’d try my hardest to resist the shit running through my veins. It was always fruitless but I still tried, each time hoping that I held out a little longer than the time before. Whether or not I did, well, I was never really sure.
My hands curled around the edge of the leather seat and my fingers dug in to the point that I started to feel my nails pull against their hold on my skin. The pain made it real. Made me feel something. As sick as it was, I had to grasp onto something.
The one-story warehouse was made up like all the other times I’d seen it before. We went in through the rear entrance. Cages lined the far back wall and half of them currently held one girl each. It was early still, so I knew this was all he would have on display because there weren’t any clients around yet. Which meant that none of ‘the products’ were being ‘sampled’ in the back right now.
I took a mental note of who was there.
And who wasn’t.
I never knew who had been taken when these things were over. I only saw them when they first arrived at the house and then when they made it here. I knew it wasn’t a good thing but I was helpless to stop it.
Even if I did escape, I wouldn’t know who to go to. He had an odd power and big people in his back pocket. I’d seen a few of them and while I didn’t know who they were, I was smart enough to catch snippets of conversation. I could tell they were people of influence and power. Getting out of here to get help might only land me right back here.
Or dead.
And while I was barely holding on at this point, I wasn’t quite ready to cut that string.
“Go make sure everything is set up,” he barked at me.
Like I could even remember my name right now, let alone be able to focus on making sure the front room was all stocked and ready to go.
Fuck.
But it wasn’t like I had a choice, and so I went like a good little puppet.
The front room was separate from the auction room. He hired people to work the bar for these events, though I hated to call them that. They were sick, disgusting gatherings where sick, disgusting motherfuckers participated in things that were so wrong they all needed to be shot. Or better yet, slowly roasted alive over a raging fire. That was how I saw it. And sometimes I imagined just that very thing happening to every single one of them that came here knowing what was going on.
But the people in the front room working were clueless so I couldn’t even blame them. That was what I believed, that they only thought they had been hired out to work at a private party. And since they weren’t allowed out of this room, they would probably neve
r know the horrors that were going on in the next room. I wondered what they thought was going on in the other part of the warehouse. Or if they thought about it at all. Would it crush them to know? Or was this just another paycheck to them and they didn’t give one damn fuck?
It wasn’t like I’d ever know.
My eyes met the three men standing guard at the front door, the only way out of this room that didn’t lead me back to the man that was pure evil.
They pinned me with a knowing look and even if I was sober, I wouldn’t ever be able to pull one over on them.
An hour later, things started to get moving. The warehouse wasn’t full, but there were enough people here to make me want to puke.
I sat on a couch watching my surroundings as best as I could.
A handful of men stood a few feet from the cages, taking in each girl trying to decide which one they wanted to bid on. A couple of them talked with each other, their heads nodding like they were looking at a piece of artwork.
Behind me, two men were carrying on a conversation like they were catching up over a drink after work. One of them was in financing or marketing. I didn’t have a damn clue. The other was a lawyer. A shady as fuck one from the sound of it.
I always knew the world wasn’t a fair place. I’d seen it too many times in my life. Overhearing them didn’t shock me but it still made me feel disappointed that this was how things worked sometimes. That there were scum people out there like them. But really, look at where I was. Of course, they were here chatting like it was any old day and talking about things I was sure they didn’t want outsiders to know.
I’d be shuffled off soon and things would get underway. That was how it usually went. He’d come to me and ask if I noticed anything out of sorts. I’d tell him everything I could remember and he’d lock me away in a room off to the side. I’d probably pass out as I came down and he’d come find me after it was all over. He’d make the pain go away and then we’d head back to the house.
Only as he crossed the room, I saw a sadistic glimmer in his eyes that was aimed at me.
Seconds later, he snatched me up by my arm and dragged me across the room, stopping only long enough to tell some man that he was ready for him.
My stomach churned and I held the sickness back because I didn’t want to make him even more mad than he already seemed.
A room with a bed and a chair that was set next to the door.
The bed was for me.
The chair was for him.
And the man that he’d talked to, I was for him.
This is my punishment.
For a thought.
For a hesitation.
For a flicker of an idea to betray him.
This was what I got.
I brought it upon myself so there is really nothing I could say. No sympathy I could even think to ask for. No begging for help or a way out.
As the man— the client, ripped my dress down my body, I stood there and let it happen. It only helped a little bit that I was so high I barely registered what was happening.
Even when the man threw me onto the bed and roughly ‘sampled the product,’ I was floating away to an indescribable place. I might not have been for sale but it didn’t matter to any of the men here tonight. Not that they really knew that at this point. He liked to keep that a secret. Smart business to put your best out there to reel them in, even if up until tonight I had only been for show. It was sad to say that I was the best. Only because I was the cleanest. The one that was well kept. Well, compared to the others, anyway.
Only thing was, I didn’t really think it mattered to these men. They were looking for certain traits and what came with that didn’t matter. Cleanliness could be fixed. But a broken girl wouldn’t suddenly grow a backbone. She wouldn’t buck you. She’d be your submissive even if she hated it.
They all came in here with an idea in mind and the only thing they needed to do was to find someone that fit that idea as best as possible.
He grunted above me and his hand gripped my breast to the point that I felt the pain. But I didn’t move or cry out. I just waited for it to be over.
Then, not soon enough, it was.
But this was just the first one.
I couldn’t even think about how many more would enter this room until he put an end to it and took me back to hell.
He sat in the corner of the room, his face was blank but I could feel the rage pouring off of him. It had been hours, but he was still pissed about that one wrong move. That point where I hesitated. The moment where I wanted a way out and saw someone that might help me take it. His eyes burned into me as his right-hand piece of shit man brought in the next man. This one would have an easier time since I’d already been stripped of my clothes.
The minutes passed and probably turned into hours at some point. He should have been out there, showing off his fucking product— his girls. But there he sat, enjoying every little piece of me that they cut away.
Eventually he stood, smoothing out his suit as he pinned me with a hard, disgusted stare. He walked out of the room leaving me there, coming down and shaking. He would go make his sales now.
I’d probably never see them again, but I’d remember their names.
Nina
Laney
Vivianna
Cate
Marcie
Adelle
Destiny
I didn’t remember how the night ended because I passed out not long after he left the room.
I woke up somewhere different. Someplace I hadn’t seen before. A new house.
Everything that was important had been moved into this new place. The cages had been left behind and I didn’t know what his new plan was. I was scared to find out.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Cable
“Sketch just got word that another girl has been taken,” Iron said starting the meeting that he’d called us all in for not even twenty minutes ago.
There were too many of us piled into this room to even count but every set of eyes were on Iron as he talked.
“And that is just what he was able to find out. There could be more. So obviously Keften is still carrying on even though he knows we’re onto him. I don’t care what you have to do, just fuckin’ find him.”
Iron was pissed. I’d rarely seen him get this way but when he did, it was best to take care of shit right the fuck now.
It wasn’t like we weren’t trying. There wasn’t much more we could do without going around burning down buildings and torturing people. Not that we weren’t capable of that but there was a line we tended to draw. And since we couldn’t hardcore prove that some of these people had a connection to Keften, we weren’t going to subject them to the things we could do to get answers.
But maybe it was time to say fuck all that and get the job done.
That was what it sounded like Iron was trying to say.
I looked around, taking in each and every one of the men in that room. As my eyes got back to my Prez, I felt a chill as his gaze pinned me hard.
“It’s time to tell Sketch about Claire.”
“You sure?” I asked, the confusion clear in my tone.
“Yeah.”
I wasn’t so sure that I agreed with this. Sketch seemed to be on shaky ground and I was a little worried what this might do to him. But then again, maybe that was what Iron was hoping for.
“We’ll do it privately. You and me,” Iron said with a small amount of softness in his tone.
I gave a tiny nod and he moved on.
“I’m open to ideas. Suggestions. Give me anything and everything you’ve got.” With that, Iron left the table open for anyone to speak.
Some of my brothers tried to come up with new ideas, only they weren’t new to me. It was shit I’d already thought of and done. Honestly, hearing their ideas made me feel a little less useless, so at least there was that.
“I think the guy that owned the warehouse in Charlotte is our way in. It just feels too close to
be coincidental. I’ve been tracking him by his cell, but so far nothing has popped up that’s out of the ordinary,” I said with a small shake of my head. It felt like I was missing something there but I couldn’t figure it out.
The guy was a workaholic. Either at the office or at home. A few times he’d gone out to dinner. Every time it was the same place and by the credit card receipts, I figured he wasn’t alone. And when I found my way into the restaurant’s system, I was able to take a look at their security feed. Lucky for me, the place was set up to save the footage for a week. After some digging, I found that the woman there with him was one of his major clients. So basically, it led me nowhere.
“His car,” Seven said, speaking up from the corner of the room.
“What?” I asked looking at him like what the fuck about his car?
“His car,” he repeated and stood up tall. “If he’s smart, he wouldn’t take his cell phone with him knowing it could be tracked. But his car he would have to take to get somewhere.”
I bit the inside of my cheek as I thought about what he’d said.
Nowadays, everyone had their cell phones on them all the time. It was like an extension of us. You didn’t walk out your door without your wallet and keys, and now a cell phone was part of that equation too. But Seven could have been right. A smart man would know these things and if he didn’t want to be caught, he’d leave anything traceable behind.
Fuck!
“Hack into his GPS,” Bocca said just as I thought of it.
“That’s only good if he doesn’t wipe it every time. And a man that would think to leave his cell phone behind would be sure to cover all his tracks,” I said thinking out loud. “But fuck, it’s worth a try.”
I looked at Iron again and with a jerk of his chin, he told me to get the fuck up and do shit.
So I did, running to my room like I’d just eaten three bean burritos and a bowl of five-alarm chili.
Arnold Trewin had three cars registered to his name. All fucking new and top of the line models. And of course, each one of them had a wiped GPS. But that didn’t mean it was a dead end.
